Photographer Robert Adams is a moralist and a cynic with a soft spot for sheer beauty. His current LACMA retrospective starts with Adams' iconic photographs of Colorado in the 1960s, probably still his best work. They show tract homes and trailers and ranch-style churches against the stark, glorious Western landscape. They're frustrated with how manmade structures invade nature, but they also can't help reveling in how desert sunlight casts shadows on shingles and glows aggressively through living-room windows. 5905 Wilshire Blvd.; through June 3. (323) 857-6000, lacma.org.

Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays-Sundays. Starts: March 11. Continues through June 3, 2012

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